If Heaven isn't all it's cracked up to be...

---

...Then send me back to Gimmelwald. That is the quote of the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald. Gimmelwald is more then 2000 feet up in the Swiss Alps. There really is no words for me to explain the beauty and peacefulness of this place so I won't even try. If you haven't seen my pics of Gimmelwald on my Flickr site (Username phished22) then check them out.

I also want to get a little bit caught up in my blog so I will just tell you I also visited Salzburg Austria for a couple nights. This is where Mozart was born and also where the Sound of Music was filmed. Wasn't my favorite place though. Everyone seemed a bit to high class for this traveling bum.

So what is this blog going to be all about I bet you are asking yourself. Well I thought I would share with you a few of my thoughts and observations of my trip so far. Now these are just my views or interpretations, and I by no means claim to be a European Cultural Expert.

So first up, as I look around to see if my fashion sense (of which I have none!) fits in with European fashion, I find that these items seem to be the "IT" in Europe:

-The Man Purse. Square, boxy and not very wide. Big enought to hold...oh maybe a wallet and some change.
-Capris for men. Yes the pants that are popular with women in the US. Europeans rarely wear shorts but they do where these.
-Don't forget your black socks with those Capris. Nick would have a cow!
-Spikes through the ears. These are very popular with te young crowd in Germany.
-The Dreadlok Mullett. You really have to see it to believe it. Grow a mullett, shave the top of your head then dreadlock the bottom. I would guess this is an Itallian thing. They seem to be the ones wearing it.

I also find that a month into my journey I miss a few common items from home:

-Fabric softener. Your clothes are not snuggly fresh when you wash them in a sink and hang them out a window to dry.
-Dryers. They don't have them. And while I am on the topic, their washing machines take a couple hours to wash your clothes. Good thing for sinks.
-Chocolate Chip Cookies...Specifically Chewey Chips Ahoy.
-Ice. They don't have it over here. Even when you get a soda at McDonald's it comes with no ice.
-CNN...I am a news Junkie. It is odd being out of the loop at times

Europeans also do some things way better then we do in the US:

-Budweiser...Not the kind you think of. This is a Czech beer. Once you have drank Czech beer you will never drink US beer again.
-Coffee or better yet cappucino. Dunkin Donuts, what is that?
-Ice Cream & Gelatto...Everyone eats it and the flavors are wonderful.
-Trains...You can get anywhere in Europe very easily by train. Who needs to drive or fly when you can jump on a train.

I have also had many Oh Wow! moments, but here are just a few rom the top of my head:

-All of Paris was Oh Wow! for me. Maybe simply because it was my first stop.
-Eating breakfast in the Swiss Alps, listening to the waterfalls and cowbells in the distance and seeing the Mountains surrounding you.
-Walking off the train in Amsterdam...Oh Wow! this place is so wrong, yet so right.
-Jumping out of a Perfectly Good Airplane.
-Sitting in a Hot Tub in the Swiss Alps at night looking up at all the stars. I even saw the big dipper, maybe for the first time. (I don't know constellations well.

I have also had a few funny things happen, where you just need to smply laugh at yourself:

-Walking around Salzburg Austria with a giant Mustard splott on the front of my jacket and all the best dressed of Salzburg Society coming out of their operas looking at me in disgust. It was a great Bratwurst though.
-Folling a sign called "EINBAHN" to get back to my hostel when I was lost, thinking that my Hostel was on Einbahn Street. Come to find out, "EINBAHN" means One Way in German. So that is why I felt like I was walking in circles.
-Loosing my wetsuit boot after jumping off the fist cliff while Canyoning. The current was talking it down the river. Goos thing someone grabbed it out of the current or I would have been barefooting it.

Well that is all for today. I am just about a month into my journey and I have learned a lot about myself and others. I will write again soon to tell you all about the great time I had in Vienna.

Ed

---